tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4054760655498332291.post6495174585532676810..comments2024-02-04T13:36:15.071-06:00Comments on Unearthly Doctor: Tooth and ClawJJ Gauthierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15795222927328657004noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4054760655498332291.post-14965398318989626652011-09-02T17:53:16.793-05:002011-09-02T17:53:16.793-05:00Still another point (I'll be doing Ringo here ...Still another point (I'll be doing Ringo here soon, "I've got blisters on my fingers!"). <br /><br />There was another agenda in S2. In S1, they had (very bravely!) gone in with The Doctor and Rose as an exploration of relationships without any conventional pattern. Which confuses Rose socially ("what sort of a date are you?" "why does everyone keep assuming he's my boyfriend?") but she accepts whatever it is at heart whereas it sneaks up on The Doctor (who is ever want to be off and running anyway). He's not father, but he is serving as part of that. He's not sexual but she can get him er, dancing. It's not exclusive but the other is irreplaceable. So on. What's important is what's being explored and the social categories are being challenged by going right over them with just the odd notice. In a way it's RTD trying to make people think through society while still being a mainstream entertainment.<br /><br />That was all fine, but going into S2 there were two clear reactions: some loud fans railing against a relationship and the loads of new fans it helped bring to Who. So at the same time that Rose was being "put in her place" from "too great" a plot element or counterweight with/against The Doctor, there was also the 'shippers who had to be catered to. This episode is where the consequences of conflicting agendas show the most. Rose must be in gaga love affair mode to serve one side but is unable to counter The Doctor on the other. In much of this episode then, Rose is caricatured to serve the agendas. Comparing this to an extremely clear example of the original method - Father's Day - is... phew. Wild Strawberries vs XMen. <br /><br />I still enjoyed it but certainly had to qualify a lot after S1 in certain areas. A spectacular show still, but it is too bad the more natural approach couldn't have been retained instead of the ol' production agendas setting in.Time Spectatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16959120838408503531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4054760655498332291.post-16483055199037964802011-09-02T16:50:04.560-05:002011-09-02T16:50:04.560-05:00Wow. Your (excellent) comments are nearly as long...Wow. Your (excellent) comments are nearly as long as my rant. :)<br /><br />Good points, all around.JJ Gauthierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15795222927328657004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4054760655498332291.post-10532701171968279422011-09-02T15:35:01.520-05:002011-09-02T15:35:01.520-05:00Had to actually get something done before coming b...Had to actually get something done before coming back to waste more time. That's a great point how Rose's "delaying her entry into adulthood" is an associable theme to the generation but I'd suggest RTD is doing much better than that. <br /><br />Adulthood means different things to different people in different places at different times. Before this "career first" generation going back... well, ages, and currently still in a goodly portion of the world, it was/is not only expected females would stay with mum and not pursue any study but in fact that was the ideal for an adult woman unless a man took her and then she was to do similarly in his household. <br /><br />All of the female companion characters in Who are actually way out there in being independent minded and adventurous to more conservative standards by just going along, so I should acknowledge how relative this all is. In the past, they sometimes had an unnaturally forced end scenario wherein Who would end up passing her to a man, a point entertained as a love story meant to "retire to her proper place" as a wife (Jo comes to mind but she's not alone). <br /><br />RTD didn't do that. She became capable of all kinds of stuff, but Rose wasn't put in a box and put away as either suddenly self-fulfilled and independent or another man's wife. Instead it's part of the theme about need that ties in with The Doctor (how it relates to why he's 'married' to the TARDIS, his loneliness and his relationships) and (thanks to mind-bending science fiction elements) he (in a more "human" version) ended up taking on being the partner for life himself.<br /><br />I think he was trying to get a really big picture in there without taking the convenient simplifications (old or new) and by hook and crook managed to worm it in even after the companion "policies" were seemingly revamped.Time Spectatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16959120838408503531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4054760655498332291.post-4129837499139008882011-09-02T07:26:30.607-05:002011-09-02T07:26:30.607-05:00Ha, a rant on this one sure but good points. I'...Ha, a rant on this one sure but good points. I'll rant on too if that's ok.<br /><br />In S1, a big theme was Rose's intense all-heart feelings helping the war-wounded Doctor on his recovery (and continued growth). Focused on The Doctor and herself, but that too was important to his recovering himself as it were. The Doctor and Rose were building to something of a personal parity through S1, culminating in the whole Bad Wolf thing. Well, geez did some fans go batty. Didn't like the idea of anybody but The Doctor holding sway (never mind I guess that some of the best stuff in the past came through his "flaws" or "handicaps") and some were railing that Rose was this horrible thing usurping the show, now going to become all-powerful or whatever. That wasn't the intention of RTD but some fans really went off LOUDLY.<br /><br />Maybe it was a reaction to fan gripes about that, we'll probably never really know why. But what seems like a self-conscious quasi-reset of the Doctor/companion dynamic seems to have happened literally as soon as Eccleston was gone. RTD kept to his themes, it usually worked well anyway, there would be the odd exception but... Rose did continue to reflect the themes concerning the Doctor (hubris being one) but was very conspicuously not allowed parity on certain levels anymore, even when this led to obnoxiously unnatural imbalances. That extended from returning more of the actual plot action (as opposed to reaction or providing situational setup) more exclusively to The Doctor and nixing the idea of Rose being an assertive emotional counterweight (which she had consistently been in S1, an obvious example being in Dalek). <br /><br />It appears, to me, that the inconsistency of Rose in S2, your point of a serious shortcoming in their dynamic and some common fan "issues" with Rose just may stem from a production "policy" if you will. It was definitely not the most realistic way to go for the characters and their situations. Their stunningly shallow, farcical-caricatured behavior in this ep is the extreme example and they seemed to play it a bit more real after seeing this, but the "policy" continued. After a knee-jerk opposite in Donna for the next special, the more conservative approach to the companion seems to have continued with Martha. Perhaps after realizing the cost of what I'd suggest was quite an over-reaction, Donna's return may have been self-consciously intended to provide a contrast/counterweight. <br /><br />S1 had set up a fine ensemble and really made The Doctor and companion dynamic play as it too seldom had before. Quite the contrast to this episode...<br /><br />Whew! That's a lot of typing. Hope it was expressed well. <br /><br />Thanks also for both pointing out the ludicrous action flick "monks," the fine work of the supporting cast and, in context, the werewolf.Time Spectatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16959120838408503531noreply@blogger.com